A generous giveaway, an injured neck and some little news

Well then first for the good news:

Fellow blogger Andi "Loki" Saunders took the 100.000 hits line. To celebrate this step he organizes a great raffle with four different lots. Even for those not interested in the lottery there is some eye candy hidden in his post (look here)...

Last sunday I visited my mate Bernhard and we had an excellent winter 1812 photo shooting. I haven't sorted all of the three hundred photos by now or discussed with him which to publish here but it was great fun to employ his excellent collection for some nice shots.

Just one teaser:

My lately painted boys lurking around an abandoned hamlet...

Now for the rather mediocre news:

Things on the workbench are going well so far. Or at least they did until monday but more on that later. Actually a couple of frozen French 1812 retreaters are nearly finished, the FIW British for "Bloggers for Charity" as well and besides I'm currently doing a rebasing job for a friend of mine. And not to forget some Vikings whose only need are their shields.

Anyway nothing too special but my task for Curt's painting challenge doesn't seem to be in danger.

And the bad ones:

But on monday afternoon conditions changed. During my weekly volleyball workout I made a clumsy move and hurt my neck. The day after I went to a sports physician and the deep hit came unprepared. The major problem isn't the inflammation of the intervertebral joints which I suffered but the condition of my cervical spine as a whole. Between three vertebrae both spinal discs are too thin and the cartilages are severely worn. So that means six weeks of inflammation treatment and buildup therapy and no guarantee of how much use that'll be in the long run. And during those weeks I#m not able to work on my office job... So on the one hand I'm feeling guilty of leaving all the work for the next week with my colleague and on the other hand I'm just puzzled about having such problems in my mid-thirties.

And of course long painting sessions won't be a good idea as well...

So I'm not sure what I'll be able to finish during the next weeks. I'll do my very best to stay true to my word and finish all fortnight bonus rounds for Curt's challenge side by side with Michael and the other guys from this pledge. Besides this our preparations for Tactica will proceed but next to those tasks I'll have to wait how my neck is doing.